Bold Blog: Alarm Automation Software and Services

Tip of the Week: Setting up Confirmed Alarms to System Handle and Initial alarm to generate an Email Response in 1.6.0 by Matt Narowski

Richard Hahn — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:41:00 GMT

1. Setup the confirmed alarm setup under the Country Setup -> country options for 2 signal confirmation and All Signals are immediately available (Regardless of Confirmed State)

2. Setup the Transmitter Programming so that you have the Event that you want to be confirmed setup in such a way that it generates an Event separate from the first alarm. In my example I use a TB1 as the original alarm and set the TB3 as my confirmed alarm event

3. I then setup an action pattern to send out an email script and then close the alarm.

4. Finally, setup the Event Actions Programming so that you act upon the first event type and not the second event. In my example I set the TB1 as Alarm=Yes and TB3 as Alarm=No.

5. An Alarm event will be generated for the first event but all subsequent events within the time period will be marked as Confirmed alarms and will be logged as signals.

Recent enhancement provides verification benefit to all Manitou users - by Bob Bishop

Kellee Hardy — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:47:00 GMT

Recent enhancement to meet new legislation in Spain provides verification benefit to all Manitou users.

In August 2011, Spain enacted a national law requiring verification of private alarm systems (commercial and residential) prior to the dispatch of authorities. One of the approved methods for verification is multiple signals (three or more) received within a defined period of time. While Manitou has always provided transmitter-level soft programming options for Confirmed events or TwoTrip events, the system was hardcoded to wait for a second signal only – not a definable number of signals. Since this would not allow for compliance with Spanish law, our development team enhanced the Confirmed commands.

This enhancement now allows all Manitou central stations to define the Confirmation requirements at the Country level (Supervisor Workstation->Maintenance->Setup->Country – jump to Country Options). With the options now deployed, you can not only define the number of signals before Manitou creates a “Confirmed” event, you can also set an option to receive the original event at the time it was received, rather than waiting for the confirmation signal.

This new enhancement will provide central stations a method to notify users upon receipt of the initial trip, but dispatch upon receipt of the confirming event. For example, if a customer would like to be notified via email upon receipt of an interior motion detector, the system can now send out that notification immediately. Additionally, if a subsequent signal is received (i.e., door opened), the system can escalate the signal as a confirmed alarm and provide dispatch instructions to the operator. Prior to the release of this update (available in Manitou 1.6.0 Update 17), the notification would only go out AFTER the delay timeout occurred for the confirming event.

For more information on this new enhancement, please refer to the Manitou Release Notes for version 1.6.0. We will also demonstrate this enhancement during our November 30^th Coffee with Manitou session entitled “How Did You Do That.”

-Bob Bishop

Tip of the Week : OzVision and Windows 7 / Silverlight – Patrick Dench

Kellee Hardy — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 17:04:00 GMT

Tip of the Week : OzVision and Windows 7 / Silverlight – Patrick Dench

OzVision and Windows 7

Windows 7 features more stringent default security settings than previous releases. These can wreak havoc on your ability to view OzVision videos through the Manitou client. The problem is that Manitou attempts to copy the video out of the Manitou database and onto the local drive (C:\Program Files\Bold Technologies\Manitou\BinFiles). However, Windows 7 will prevent this copy from occurring and as a result the video player will be unable to find the video file.

The simplest resolution to this problem is to give users full control of the BinFiles directory within the Manitou folder. If the folder does not exist, simply create the folder and change the security permissions to allow the appropriate users/groups access to the folder.

After doing this you should again be able to view OzVision videos through the Manitou client.

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Silverlight: A 32-bit plug-in living in a 64-bit world

Microsoft’s Silverlight platform requires a 32-bit browser even when run on 64-bit machines.

We’ve had a few reports of anomalous behavior when running 64-bit Windows 7 and accessing a BoldNet page. Reported results vary from continuously seeing a prompt to download and install Silverlight, to occasional IE crashes. This can be avoided by running the 32-bit version of Internet Explorer. When installing IE9 on a 64-bit machine, both the 64 and 32-bit versions are installed.

In order to run in 32-bit mode, make sure your IE shortcut points to the 32-bit executable. This is installed to the C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer folder by default.

-Patrick Dench

Never the same way twice!

Kellee Hardy — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 18:07:00 GMT

Never the same way twice!

The MediaGateway is a powerful tool that will allow your business to grow in new areas and improve efficiency. It is also a complex module that can be implemented in many different ways. Very rarely is the MediaGateway implemented in the same way twice.

Although the same functionality has been achieved at many of our client’s sites it has been done differently almost every time. This is largely due to the fact that almost every site uses a different PBX. Even if the same type of phone switch is installed at two sites the required connection might be different. For example one system might have an available T1/ISDN card and another might have analog ports. Because of the MediaGateway’s versatility we can usually configure the hardware to match any existing configuration.

However it is this versatility that can make the implementation process complex. Before any components are sold we complete a technical discovery call that will help us better understand the layout of your existing PBX, and hopefully minimize any surprises that might be discovered during the installation phase of the project. This information along with the lessons learned from previous installs will help us build a system that will integrate with your existing equipment.

It is important to remember that we can integrate the MediaGateway with almost any existing phone system or piece of telephony equipment but the amount of options available to us can also make the planning phase more complex. The planning phase can be the most important part of a successful MediaGateway deployment. I understand that this might sound like a daunting task but the good news is that once it is installed you don’t need to make any modifications to the configuration. In general the system will simply run, you just don’t need to think about it again.

-Shaun Blair

September Coffee with Manitou Video Now Available

Bob Bishop — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:21:00 GMT

The video from the September Coffee with Manitou session is now available. This session demonstrated suggestions for helping to improve operator efficiency through the use of enhanced Action Patterns, email/SMS notifications, and OpenVoice.

We are please to offer the video via three formats:

Flash Video (recommended for most users)

Windows Media Video (WMV)

iPad MP4

August Coffee With Manitou Recording

Bob Bishop — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 20:13:00 GMT

Bold is pleased to announce that the recording of the Coffee with Manitou session held on Wednesday, August 3 is now available at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/717940672. This session covers many of the enhancements available in Manitou version 1.6.1 which will be available during the 4th quarter of 2011.

Action Pattern Enhancement - Include

Bob Bishop — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 16:38:00 GMT

After all of the positive feedback that we received from our recent Coffee with Manitou session (What’s New in Manitou 1.6.1?), we decided to do a series of blog posts highlighting some of the new and enhanced features. There are a number of changes to the core application that will provide improved alarm handling efficiency (through the enhanced Action Patterns and Workflows) as well as new tools to handle alarm verification (the redesigned Media Matrix and VideoPlus). These posts will allow us to break the release into smaller pieces and provide you with some usage scenarios and best practice ideas.

To start the introductions, today’s post will cover one of the new Action Pattern items – INCLUDE. The new include feature will provide users with the ability to create a hierarchy to the Action Pattern and run “Sub Action Patterns” within the main Action Pattern (embedding some “nesting” characteristics). This will prove to be a powerful tool in making sure that the operator/dispatcher has situational logic presented with the Action Pattern. Additionally, you can designate WHEN you want to include these additional Action Patterns and tie them to situations such as Disaster Mode, Status Open/Closed, Verified, and many more.

For example, a traditional Action Pattern may include the following steps: (1) Call Customer Site; (2) Call Police Authority; and, (3) Call Customer Contacts/Keyholders. With the INCLUDE feature, you can now add additional Action Patterns based on desired situations – such as Verified Alarm. In this case, the operator will be prompted to: (1) Connect to Camera; (2) Call Customer Site; and (3) INCLUDE Action Pattern “Verified“ – additional instructions for the operator on exactly how to proceed under the current set of circumstances.

We look forward to introducing you to even more new features over the next several weeks. Bold Technologies is committed to continually enhancing the feature sets of our applications and providing our users with the highest quality tools to reach their operational goals and potential.

Bold Product Spotlight - LineCheck‏

Kellee Hardy — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 20:57:00 GMT

LineCheck

Tired of manually calling all of your receivers lines to make sure there is a handshake?

Then the LineCheck module is what you need. A low cost turn-key solution is available for this module.

LineCheck is a component of Bold's award winning MediaGateway package that works with any automation package. LineCheck allows receiver lines to be constantly tested for any kind of failure. LineCheck will call your receiver lines on a schedule determined by you, it will attempt to pass a contact ID signal to the receiver to fully test the receiver path. If a failure is detected then the LineCheck can call an alternative number and report an immediate failure using contact ID, if the automation system is Manitou it can report the problem directly to Manitou via its XML IP protocol.

The advantage of this mechanism is that problems are reported immediately, no more waiting for late-to-tests or having operators dial up the lines. The system can test the lines as often as once a minute, continuously 24/7.

With a simple 4 line analog card the system is capable testing 240 lines per hour, if more is needed the system is easily expanded.

For more information, please contact:

Bryant Hardy
(719) 593-2829 ext.177
bryanth@boldgroup.com

Tiffany Coles
(719) 593-2829 ext. 119
tiffanyc@boldgroup.com

The Cloud, is the future clear? - Rod Coles

Brandon Lilly — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 21:17:00 GMT

There is a lot of talk these days about the “Cloud”, and like many buzzwords its use has become casual and often used out of context. So what exactly is “Cloud Computing”?

Daylight Savings Time (DST) starts March 13th

Brandon Lilly — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 00:45:00 GMT

The 2011 "Spring Ahead" Daylight Savings Time (DST) change will happen on March 13th! To ensure that your Manitou system is compliant with the new DST changes...